TikTok for brands: learn how to promote yours in 2022
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 7:13 am
TikTok has quickly invaded the social media niche and become the main app for teenagers and young people. The advertising market surrounding it is still quite new and there are few specialists in promotion for this social network so far . For this reason, TikTok for brands often raises many doubts among corporate managers.
In this article, you'll learn how to advertise brands what is 99 acres? and products on TikTok, what types of advertising exist, and how brands have executed their campaigns on this social network.
TikTok users: who are they?
TikTok was launched in September 2016. By 2020, the app had already accumulated 800 million active users worldwide . Of this total, the main audience resides in China, India and the United States.
Today, TikTok is among the top ten social media platforms in the world and has already surpassed titans like Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter.
The core of TikTok's audience is young people. 41% of the audience are users between 16 and 24 years old. The other age groups have minimal activity. The data on the number of men and women are different, but the average proportion is 60% women and 40% men.
After analyzing this data, we can conclude that this social network seems to be more suitable for brands whose target audience is mostly made up of young people, such as companies that sell gadgets or manufacturers of clothing for teenagers.
Other important data about the social network's audience:
90% of users access TikTok daily;
One-third of all app downloads are from Indian residents;
The average user spends 52 minutes a day on it;
The app is available in 155 countries and has versions in 75 languages;
Users watch over 1 million videos every day.
tiktok for brands
Ad formats on TikTok
In fact, when it comes to TikTok stocks, the advertising market is still in its infancy. There is very little competition, and there are still no clear rules defined.
However, ad format classification already exists. Learn about the main types below.
1. Brand control
This is a pop-up image format that appears when the user logs into the application. The image is displayed for up to 3 seconds, in GIF or video format, with a duration of up to 3-15. The advertisement even looks like the banners you can see on many websites.
It is recommended not to use static images, as users respond better to dynamic content. Using pre-made templates and other tools, you can add animated elements to your photo and make it more attractive.
An important point is that the content of this ad format should not exceed 2 MB in size.
You can recommend visiting a TikTok website or profile, as well as suggest downloading another app in your ad.
tiktok for brands
Source: Meltwater
2. Top view
It is a 5- to 60-second commercial that is automatically triggered when the user opens the app. The content is labeled "Sponsored."
Who needs this advertising? Brands that want to build an image and increase recognition and the number of user clicks on the website, TikTok page or other social network.
tiktok for brands
3. Native In-feed Video
This content is in the form of a movie, up to 15 seconds long, and is broadcast while the user watches the videos in the app. Essentially, this is the most natural advertising option. It works in a similar way to the sponsored stories that are displayed between Instagram Stories.
This type of advertising video is integrated into the recommendation feed, so it must be interesting for the target audience, not force a sale, and generally be useful.
Users can enjoy the ads in video format, share them, follow the brand profile, use the ad song and access the available links.
The creators of the KFC snack chain's commercials managed to achieve a very good result with the format. The short video uses a simple idea: the advertiser uses a meme where users try to prepare KFC specialties at home.
The video features the song 'All by Myself' and the caption 'We miss you too'. The video ends with a photo of the network's specialties and a link to the home delivery service.
The ad received approximately 2 million views with a 10% engagement rate.
tiktok for brands
4. Hashtag Challenge
This is the most popular type of advertising on the social network, as hashtags on TikTok really work and are one of the main tools for categorizing and promoting posts.
The Hashtag Challenge format is usually launched by brands, influencers or celebrities.
They begin by announcing the start of the challenge and inviting users to record their own videos according to the established rules and tag them with the necessary hashtags. As an additional rule, there may be a determination to use a specific song.
Typically, the hashtag challenge has an official page where all the custom videos are available. Often, the organizers choose and award several winners.
The lucky ones get the brand's products or can personally meet the celebrity who launched the challenge. However, the main thing for them, of course, is the growth of popularity on social networks and the increase in views.
By using this advertising format, you can significantly increase your reach to your target audience, grow your fan base (including attracting celebrity followers), and promote your brand.
Here is another example from a great brand. Converse launched a challenge in collaboration with popular English bloggers. In this way, they decorated their sneakers and invited their fans to do the same. The prize was the right to attend one of the brand's events.
Thousands of videos quickly emerged under the challenge hashtag, featuring sneakers painted with a brush, sprayed on, and even embroidered. In less than a week, the brand had 24 million views, significantly increasing its reach and popularity among its target audience.
tiktok for brands
5. Brand effects
This is a more discreet type of ad based on the creation of branded stickers, effects and filters provided to users for free. As a result, the brand receives more mentions.
tiktok for brands
Source: Lenslist
6. Ads with influencers
Classic influencer marketing is in demand on all platforms. Ad managers can select certain profiles with a relevant audience and discuss the terms of cooperation.
It is important that the video resulting from the collaboration looks natural and not a “forced” advertisement. Success will depend on choosing the right influencer.
How to promote yourself correctly on TikTok?
First you need to prepare your account considering the following points:
a simple, short and memorable nickname;
an original avatar based on your brand logo ;
a creative profile description.
Next, you need to move on to the most important thing, which is creating relevant, high-quality content. In fact, short videos (up to 15-20 seconds), funny or educational, are the most sought after.
This is a fun social network, but the brand must take it as seriously as possible. Therefore, when developing a strategy:
Determine why your business needs to promote itself on TikTok — to increase sales, increase traffic, increase business awareness, etc.
Get the most accurate picture of your customer and the correct description of your target audience.
Analyze when your followers are most active.
Monitor your audience's interests and desires to create content that fits their needs.
Use different ad formats to achieve your goals.
This will be enough to systematically increase the number of followers and achieve recommendations from the social network. But, if necessary, you can improve the process by using additional promotion methods:
invite your brand’s followers on other social networks to sign up for TikTok;
collaborate with partners, creating and publishing collaborative videos;
analyze trends and try to take advantage of them;
Choose appropriately and use hashtags in the videos.
How do famous brands promote themselves on TikTok?
NBA
This is one of the first brands registered on the social network. It has a large audience, with almost 12 million followers. The content is diverse, from humor to motivational videos:
In this article, you'll learn how to advertise brands what is 99 acres? and products on TikTok, what types of advertising exist, and how brands have executed their campaigns on this social network.
TikTok users: who are they?
TikTok was launched in September 2016. By 2020, the app had already accumulated 800 million active users worldwide . Of this total, the main audience resides in China, India and the United States.
Today, TikTok is among the top ten social media platforms in the world and has already surpassed titans like Snapchat, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter.
The core of TikTok's audience is young people. 41% of the audience are users between 16 and 24 years old. The other age groups have minimal activity. The data on the number of men and women are different, but the average proportion is 60% women and 40% men.
After analyzing this data, we can conclude that this social network seems to be more suitable for brands whose target audience is mostly made up of young people, such as companies that sell gadgets or manufacturers of clothing for teenagers.
Other important data about the social network's audience:
90% of users access TikTok daily;
One-third of all app downloads are from Indian residents;
The average user spends 52 minutes a day on it;
The app is available in 155 countries and has versions in 75 languages;
Users watch over 1 million videos every day.
tiktok for brands
Ad formats on TikTok
In fact, when it comes to TikTok stocks, the advertising market is still in its infancy. There is very little competition, and there are still no clear rules defined.
However, ad format classification already exists. Learn about the main types below.
1. Brand control
This is a pop-up image format that appears when the user logs into the application. The image is displayed for up to 3 seconds, in GIF or video format, with a duration of up to 3-15. The advertisement even looks like the banners you can see on many websites.
It is recommended not to use static images, as users respond better to dynamic content. Using pre-made templates and other tools, you can add animated elements to your photo and make it more attractive.
An important point is that the content of this ad format should not exceed 2 MB in size.
You can recommend visiting a TikTok website or profile, as well as suggest downloading another app in your ad.
tiktok for brands
Source: Meltwater
2. Top view
It is a 5- to 60-second commercial that is automatically triggered when the user opens the app. The content is labeled "Sponsored."
Who needs this advertising? Brands that want to build an image and increase recognition and the number of user clicks on the website, TikTok page or other social network.
tiktok for brands
3. Native In-feed Video
This content is in the form of a movie, up to 15 seconds long, and is broadcast while the user watches the videos in the app. Essentially, this is the most natural advertising option. It works in a similar way to the sponsored stories that are displayed between Instagram Stories.
This type of advertising video is integrated into the recommendation feed, so it must be interesting for the target audience, not force a sale, and generally be useful.
Users can enjoy the ads in video format, share them, follow the brand profile, use the ad song and access the available links.
The creators of the KFC snack chain's commercials managed to achieve a very good result with the format. The short video uses a simple idea: the advertiser uses a meme where users try to prepare KFC specialties at home.
The video features the song 'All by Myself' and the caption 'We miss you too'. The video ends with a photo of the network's specialties and a link to the home delivery service.
The ad received approximately 2 million views with a 10% engagement rate.
tiktok for brands
4. Hashtag Challenge
This is the most popular type of advertising on the social network, as hashtags on TikTok really work and are one of the main tools for categorizing and promoting posts.
The Hashtag Challenge format is usually launched by brands, influencers or celebrities.
They begin by announcing the start of the challenge and inviting users to record their own videos according to the established rules and tag them with the necessary hashtags. As an additional rule, there may be a determination to use a specific song.
Typically, the hashtag challenge has an official page where all the custom videos are available. Often, the organizers choose and award several winners.
The lucky ones get the brand's products or can personally meet the celebrity who launched the challenge. However, the main thing for them, of course, is the growth of popularity on social networks and the increase in views.
By using this advertising format, you can significantly increase your reach to your target audience, grow your fan base (including attracting celebrity followers), and promote your brand.
Here is another example from a great brand. Converse launched a challenge in collaboration with popular English bloggers. In this way, they decorated their sneakers and invited their fans to do the same. The prize was the right to attend one of the brand's events.
Thousands of videos quickly emerged under the challenge hashtag, featuring sneakers painted with a brush, sprayed on, and even embroidered. In less than a week, the brand had 24 million views, significantly increasing its reach and popularity among its target audience.
tiktok for brands
5. Brand effects
This is a more discreet type of ad based on the creation of branded stickers, effects and filters provided to users for free. As a result, the brand receives more mentions.
tiktok for brands
Source: Lenslist
6. Ads with influencers
Classic influencer marketing is in demand on all platforms. Ad managers can select certain profiles with a relevant audience and discuss the terms of cooperation.
It is important that the video resulting from the collaboration looks natural and not a “forced” advertisement. Success will depend on choosing the right influencer.
How to promote yourself correctly on TikTok?
First you need to prepare your account considering the following points:
a simple, short and memorable nickname;
an original avatar based on your brand logo ;
a creative profile description.
Next, you need to move on to the most important thing, which is creating relevant, high-quality content. In fact, short videos (up to 15-20 seconds), funny or educational, are the most sought after.
This is a fun social network, but the brand must take it as seriously as possible. Therefore, when developing a strategy:
Determine why your business needs to promote itself on TikTok — to increase sales, increase traffic, increase business awareness, etc.
Get the most accurate picture of your customer and the correct description of your target audience.
Analyze when your followers are most active.
Monitor your audience's interests and desires to create content that fits their needs.
Use different ad formats to achieve your goals.
This will be enough to systematically increase the number of followers and achieve recommendations from the social network. But, if necessary, you can improve the process by using additional promotion methods:
invite your brand’s followers on other social networks to sign up for TikTok;
collaborate with partners, creating and publishing collaborative videos;
analyze trends and try to take advantage of them;
Choose appropriately and use hashtags in the videos.
How do famous brands promote themselves on TikTok?
NBA
This is one of the first brands registered on the social network. It has a large audience, with almost 12 million followers. The content is diverse, from humor to motivational videos: